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Fanboy and Chum Chum Review/Transcript
Mr. Mufflin: 'If they hold these two back another year, I am putting in for early retirement... ''(Intro) Oh boy, we get to talk about this one. If you don't know, ''Fanboy and Chum Chum ''has a...certain reputation...as not just one of the worst Nicktoons but probably...''the ''worst Nicktoon. Actually, not just that, but it's probably considered one of the ''worst ''cartoons '''of all time. During the late 2000s and the early 2010s, Nickelodeon was in a...pretty rough spot as you've probably noticed by now, and Fanboy and Chum Chum ''was often sighted as them "jumping the shark." Not helping was the fact that Nickelodeon ''did ''refuse ''Adventure Time ''before taking on ''Fanboy and Chum Chum. Which...in hindsight, is one of the stupidest corporate decisions in history. For those who were born yesterday, Cartoon Network had got Adventure Time, which not only turned out to be one of their most popular cartoon shows of all time, but it sort of started a really ''good age at the network, with shows like ''Regular Show, Steven Universe, and The Amazing World of Gumball hulling along. Meanwhile, in Fanboy and Chum Chum's wake, Nickelodeon started getting shows like Robot and Monster, Planet Sheen, Sanjay and Craig, and the Breadwinners. Which...we're gonna get to all of these, but let's just say that they're not good. Back when I started reviewing, this show was hated. Actually, it wasn't "just hated" let's say. Every so often there's a piece of media that attracts such a hatedom, that it's...really astounding. It's something to behold. You think that the hatred of Teen Titans Go! ''was bad? Nobody would 'dare 'stick up for ''Fanboy and Chum Chum, at least anybody who wanted to have a reputation, and, at least at the time. It's now a decade old, and time can do interesting things to perspective. I mean considering this show's premiere was literally immediately after "Truth or Square," it was probably not off to a good start to begin with. But let's get some facts out of the way: this was a popular show. It had a full 52-episode run that lasted three years, which is about standard for a show. It also won five Emmy awards, which is tied with only El Tigre ''as the most Emmy awards of any Nicktoon. Not that Emmys really mean anything. And while Nickelodeon had a lot of faith in this show initially, when the hate got too powerful, they did unceremoniously bury it. Not just throwing it to the sister Nicktoons Network, but even once it's there, it started airing it at 4:30 in the morning. On top of that, Nickelodeon held episodes for over a year, for good measure. It's clear at some point that the higher-ups realized that they had indeed fucked up. Then again with how many good shows that Nickelodeon fucked over, I'm-I'm not entirely sure what to think. Let's just have a moment of silence for all the other network shenanigans we've dealt with for over the years. This list is uh...growing. Seriously...Nickelodeon, at 18, as a society, we kinda expect you to have your shit together. But 18 years after the first Nicktoon, you're still doing this and you're fucking up worse than ever. So for a while now on Nick-o-Rama, I have been giving some controversial opinions, and I have to unfortunately give another controversial opinion here. Uh...the hate was overblown for this show. Actually, I think that's getting to be the "standard opinion" of ''Fanboy and Chum Chum, that the hate was overblown. I'm not saying that the show is good or anything, but let me put it this way: of the original Nickelodeon marathon I did in 2014, the Fanboy and Chum Chum ''episode was the least bad out of all of them. In hindsight, I really think I should've taken a look at ''Planet Sheen ''instead at the time, because that episode was far worse than the ''Fanboy and Chum Chum ''episode I looked at. Let's take a look at the main complaint first: this show is ''annoying. It is very ''annoying. I don't think that it's the most annoying show that I've ever seen...honestly ''The Mighty B! ''was worse in that regard. The problem with ''Fanboy and Chum Chum ''is that it's constant noise. There is ''never ''a moment of silence, it ''never takes a breath. Every single second either has someone talking or making a sound effect, or the background music jumps in volume to make sure that each episode is eleven minutes of nonstop noise. Not only that, but it's loud noise too. The theme song, which I declared one of the worst of all time, is a pretty good example of the noise that you'll be dealing with throughout the entire show. (Plays a bit of the theme song) Luckily though, for the actual main show, Fanboy and Chum Chum don't sing. At least in none of the episodes that I watched for this review. Because, thank God. And that is because I will have to say that the voice acting for this show is not good. I mean, it's hard to tell because our main characters are shouting ''all the time, but that's an issue with scripting and direction. Chum Chum, for instance, has the ''exact same voice as Dogen from Psychonauts, and now that I can't unnotice it, you can't either! And to hammer it home, it also has the same voice actress as Luna Loud and you can tell if you do listen to it. Another big issue is...our main characters. Especially their names. "Fanboy" and "Chum Chum." Even in 2009, it's clear that a "fanboy" wasn't a cool thing to be. Actually, I-I don't know if that's exactly the problem here. Being a fanboy...was pretty lame at the time, but calling someone a fanboy was probably considered just as lame, or even more lame. So, whether or not they wanted us to like or dislike this character, that was probably a poor move to choose the name "Fanboy." And "Chum Chum" is just...stupid. And I mean, y-you've probably heard...the profanity that it's...changed to often. Actually, the concept of the show is...nonexistent. Fanboy and Chum Chum ''is about two kids who dress up like superheroes, they even have stupid hero names. The issue? While superheroes ''are referenced in the show, Fanboy and Chum Chum don't actually do anything resembling heroes. They don't even do the Teen Titans Go! ''or ''Freakazoid! ''thing of trying to be superheroes and making life hell for those around them. I mean they ''do ''make hell for those around them, but dressing up like superheroes and having the whole motif is just...wasted. They have quirky people in their life like Kyle, who is a wizard for no reason. They have an obsession with these..."Slushie" ripoffs. But honestly, it feels like they're just...pieces of a concept, not an actual show. The whole thing here feels...very half-baked. There's not much logic as to why any of these pieces are here and how they really go together. And that falls into the storytelling as well. Well, I say "storytelling" like it means anything here. I mean, what happens in each episode you 'could 'call a story, it wouldn't get you to pass kindergarten, but at least on a technicality you could call it a story. They ''do ''tell you things. Every single episode of this show is basically a "random events" plot. Things happen and then other things happen. They may or may not be related to what had just happened. There isn't any sort of logic for the world that they live in either. Now, there are shows that can do this and pull it off quite well, but ''Fanboy and Chum Chum ''is not one of them. And I think that's because it focuses on characters who are just as weird as the world around them. What's more fun: a character who just goes with the flow, or a character who constantly tries to fight the world that they've found themselves in? Remember...you can't have a story about Wonderland without Alice. This is probably why the extras in this show are...so much more interesting. If there's something you like about this show, it's probably them. It can get into annoying territory for sure with characters like Kyle or Lenny constantly getting misfortune thrust upon them, but they have a...kind of charisma, and at the very least, Kyle shows some act of resistance. There's a '''fight', a bit of back-and-forth, which is a step further than shows like The Mighty B! ''or ''CatDog. I also like that there's Boog. He's a big, stupid brute that beats up Fanboy and Chum Chum or at least threatens to. And honestly, I just realized how refreshing that it is, that there is some character or obstacle that the super annoying main characters of these shows...is actively afraid of. On top of that, it does mean that they do face consequences for what they do...at least in some sort of cosmic sense. And I think that's one of the main reasons I think this show is better than The Mighty B!. Fanboy and Chum Chum don't always manage to raise hell with impunity. Sometimes they do, but more often than usual, they do suffer the consequences for their terror. Or they throw consequences towards things that actually do deserve it, like...a vampire. And honestly, I'm not too angry at the "random events" plots, because it's clear that this is their only ''way to be creative. The basic plots if you really think about them are kind of overdone. "Making someone think that they're sick for your own benefit." That-that's a pretty common plot. "Thinking that there's a monster when there really is none." That's...another...bit of overdone. And of course cartoon characters getting sent back to kindergarten. Which is...a-a very strange plot to be really overdone now that I think about it. It's clear that any ambition, was sent to the animation department. It's hard to know if ''Fanboy and Chum Chum has good animation...after all, it's CGI and that, any CGI that's ten years old is probably not going to look as good as it can, but it is one of the few CGI cartoons in general...that isn't based solely on a movie or video game or whatever, so they needed to build the designs from the ground up, and I will say, it's nice to see some stylization. I kinda like the overall character designs. It does really understand the basic principles of animation. And to tell you the truth, I like how energized it is. The kind of gags in this show are often fourth-wall breaks and they do take advantage of the medium in ways that many cartoons don't. It's something that we really haven't seen since the nineties. And I do like the bright colors that this show has. There also does seem to be a blend of 2D and 3D animation, with some of the backgrounds often just being...two-dimensional drawings, which is a clever way to save money and still look relatively decent. I mean sometimes it does look like cardboard cutouts in an elementary school play, but usually it's hard to notice. I do wish they threw in some more details here and there...there are too many barren school walls in this show. Fanboy and Chum Chum ''is basically the animation equivalent of candy; brightly colored and full of wild energy. It's certainly not good for you and there are better things out there for you, for sure. But some people like candy and shows like this do allow you to turn your brain off for half an hour. There are also far, 'far 'worse things out there for you. Am I giving the show a recommendation? HELL NO! I'm just not saying that it's the worst thing ever out there. With everything that I've experienced this Nick-o-Rama, and still having some of the worst shows to go through, I have to say that the hate towards this one has been overblown. Honestly, while I am probably never going to watch this show again, I-I would ''not put it on a "Top 10 Worst Nicktoons" list, and I do stand by it not being on my "Top 10 Worst Cartoons of the 2000s" list. At the very least, you could say that this one is "unique and original," unlike say...Coconut Fred. 'Announcer: '''Don't go away! Coming up next on Nickelodeon... ''(Shows clip of the Planet Sheen intro) (End Credits Theme: "Sthlm Sunset" by Ehrling) Category:Nick-o-Rama Category:Transcripts